Charger Opus BT-C100 early version

Updated review of the shipping version





This charger is a single channel analyzing LiIon and NiMH charger, i.e. it can both charge and discharge while measuring, the charger can also work as a power bank. The total number of function is large and for that reason the technical section in this review is very large.
I got this charger from Gearbest for review, before it was completely finished. This means that some of the issues I find in this review probably will be fixed very soon.



I got the charger in a “retail” box, but before any printing was done.



The box contained the charger, a power supply and a manual.



The charger can be powered from the supplied 12V/1A power supply or from usb. I did not test the usb power, the connector was misaligned and broke off when I tried to connect to it.



The usb output is usual disabled, it is required to hold the “CURRENT” button down for some time to enabled the usb mode function, then press the button again to turn usb output on.



When the charger is turned on, it displays test where all the text can be seen.
When startup is finished it is possible to select mode:

• CHARGE: Charge battery with 200 to 2000 mA.
  
• DISCHARGE: Discharge battery with 100 to 1000 mA.
  
• DISCHARGE REFRESH: Discharge and charge the battery 3 times.
  
• CHARGE TEST: Charge, discharge and charge the battery, show how much current was discharged.
  
• IMPEDANCE TEST: Measure the internal resistance of the battery.
  

• LiIon batteries will be discharged with 8mA when power is off.
  
• LiIon batteries will be discharged with 2mA when power is on.
  
• NiMh batteries will be discharged with 0.8mA when power is on or off.
  
• Voltmeter shows wrong values when charger is unpowered.
  
• Voltmeter do not freeze, but shows the actual cell voltage all the time (Very nice).
  
• The voltage is measured with current off and is within 0.05 volt.
  
• From 0.05 volt on the battery the charger will recognize it and start charging.
  
• Up to 2 volt NiMH is assumed, above 1.6 volt they will be reported full immediately.
  
• Above 2 volt LiIon charging is used.
  
• Charger will restart if battery voltage drops below 4 volt.
  
• Charger will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.
  

• When usb output is enabled the battery is discharged with 15mA
  
• Usb output uses automatic coding with Apple 2.4A as maximum.
  
• Usb output can be used as ups
  
• Usb output must be manually turned on when battery it put into charger.
  
• When under voltage or over load trips the battery must be removed to reset the circuit.
  
• Voltage, current, etc. on charger part of display is not correct
  

Charger Keeppower L2





Keeppower is known for its LiIon batteries, but now they have also made some chargers. The one I am looking on here is a dual cell LiIon charger with two currents and can handle sizes up to 26650, the charger is powered from usb.



I got the charger in a cardboard retail box with fairly limited printing on.



The box contained the charger, a usb charger/power supply, usb cable and a instruction sheet.



The micro usb connector for power input is placed on the front, just below the display.



The user interface is a display and a single button.
A press on the button will change between 500mA and 1000mA charge current, but only when there is a battery in the charger.
Holding the button down will turn off the display and disable the current change function, the charger will continue to charge with selected current. To turn display on again the button must be held down again.



The display has an animated battery icon, charge percent, voltage and selected current for each channel.



The charge uses the typical slider construction with a metal rail and it works smoothly from about 29.7mm to 70.9mm, i.e. the charger can handle nearly any 18650 and 26650 cells both protected and unprotected.





The charger can handle 70.9 mm long batteries, including flat top cells.



Measurements

• Batteries will be discharged with 0.05mA when power is off.
  
• Charges batteries with 0.3mA when connected to power.
  
• Voltmeter works from 2.20 volt.
  
• Voltmeter is within 0.05 volt.
  
• Voltmeter stops updating when charging is finished.
  
• Below 1 volt the charger will show “err” on the display.
  
• Between 1V and 3V the charge will charge with 150mA to 180mA with 0.5A selected and 280mA with 1A selected.
  
• Above 3 volt it will use full charge current.
  
• Charger will not restart if battery voltage drops.
  
• Charger will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.
  
• Usb current when idle is about 24mA
  

Charger Xiamen Nanfu HG-1206W





This charger is a very cheap multi LiIon chemistry charger that supports a wide variety of LiIon and NiMH sizes.



The charger is powered from the mains and is universal voltage (100-240 VAC 47/63 Hz). It has a foldable EU plug and it does not fit modern outlets where the holes are below the surface of the outlet.



The charger has one led, that will be red when charging and green at other times.



The charger uses the usual slider constrution and support from 30mm to 69mm, this means it will not support long protected 18650 cells.







The charger can only handle up to 69mm long cells, with both flat and button tops cells.




Measurements

• The two charger slots are mostly in parallel, i.e. it is best to only charge same type cell in the two slots.
  
• Will discharge a LiIon with about 0.4mA when not connected to power.
  
• Below 0.6 volt the charge current is about 15mA and the led is green.
  
• Between 0.6 and 1.37 volt it will charge NiMH batteries
  
• Between 1.37 volt and 1.8 volt it will charge with 8mA, this is a trickle charge for NiMH.
  
• Between 1.8 volt and 2.9 volt the current will vary, but is below 0.1A
  
• Above 2.9 volt LiIon is assumed.
  
• The led will toggle between red/green when the batteries are nearly full.
  
• The charger will always restart when voltage drops below termination voltage, because it never really turns off.
  

Charger Keeppower L1 4.20V





This is the updated version of the L1 charger where Keeppower has reduced the charging voltage to the correct 4.20 volt. It is a single cell charger with two charge currents and can handle sizes up to 26650, the charger is powered from usb. For a review of the initial version of the charger see here: First version.



I got the charger in a cardboard retail box with fairly limited printing on.



I unwrapped it before looking careful on the box. The above label was placed on the shrink wrap.



The box contained the charger, a bag and a usb cable and a manual.



The bag is for the charger and the cable.



The micro usb connector is placed on the front, just below the display.



The user interface is a display and a single button.
A press on the button will change between 500mA and 1000mA charge current, but only when there is a battery in the charger.
Holding the button down will turn off the display and disable the current change function, the charger will continue to charge with selected current. To turn display on again the button must be held down again.



The display has an animated battery icon, charge percent, voltage and selected current.



The charge uses the typical slider construction with a metal rail and it works smoothly from about 29.5mm to 71.5mm, i.e. the charger can handle any 18650 and 26650 cells both protected and unprotected.





The charger can easily handle 71 mm long batteries, including flat top cells.



Measurements

• Between 0V and 3V charger will charge with 180mA.
  
• Above 3.0 volt the charger will use regular charging.
  
• The charger will not restart if battery voltage drops.
  
• Charge will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.
  
• Voltmeter works from 2.2 volt to about 4.2 volt and is within 0.05 volt. It will stop update when charging is finished.
  
• The charger has a limit on how fast the percent display can increase and the voltmeter will never decrease.
  
• When charging is finished the charger will discharge the battery with about 60uA.
  
• When charger is without power it discharge the battery with about 200uA.
  

Charger Opus BT-C100





This is a supplementary review to the orginal BT-C100 review, please read it first.



This time the retail box was ready and I got the EU version.



The box included EU power supply with universal voltage , manual and the charger.



I forgot to show the markings on the charger in the last review.

The user interface is improved:
When a battery is put into the charger it will shortly show the voltage (Maybe a bit too shortly) and then change to show the selected current.
It looks like the voltage display is fairly accurate now when working as a power bank.

The charger still looks like it is connected to power when a LiIon battery is put into it and you can select modes and current. The settings do not work, before the charger is connected to power. This can confuse the maximum current setting in the charger, i.e. you cannot select the currents that are supposed to be aviable.
Except for the confusion it is not really a problem, just connect power before putting the battery in.



Measurements

I am not going to do all the tests again, only a few spot tests and some supplementary tests.
This time I did not break the usb connector and did some test with usb powered charging.



LiIon charging



Charging looks the same as the first one I tested.



Highest LiIon charge current is 1.6A with a 12V power supply.



With usb power supply the maximum LiIon current is 1.3A and as can be seen it cannot maintain the current until the CV phase (This is very common for usb powered chargers).
The charging is just as good as with 12V power supply, but will be a bit slower.



Simulating a long usb cable or weak usb power supply did slow the charging down, but the battery is charged.



LiFePO4 3.6 volt charging



The LiFePO4 charging has not been improved, it will restart a couple of times, due to the voltage drop.



NiMH charging



The charger do not miss termination at low current.



A high current charger from usb power also works fine, but for some reason the charger reduces current during the charge (It might be due to temperature).



USB output (power bank) function

I run the usual load tests and it looks about the same.





The problems at 2A is still present. Instead of these oscillations it would have been better to turn the usb output off.



Conclusion

I did not expect many changes from the early version of the charger and I did not find many.
I like the slightly improved user interface where it displays voltage and then selected current.
But it looks like the final LiIon voltage is rather low, I hope it is only present on my copy of the charger (0.05V more would have been nice).




Notes

The charger was supplied by Gearbest for review.

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger

Charger AV4m+





This charger is a bit special, orginally it is from a brand called MEC, but the German company accu-select modifies it significantly and then add a + to its name (or a s for the model with serial data output). The modified model name is not printed on the charger, but only visible in the documentation and the listing for the charger. The charger is an analyzing charger.



I got the charger in a white cardboard box with very little text on it.



The box contained the charger, a power supply and a car adapter, manual is downloaded from the internet and is in German.



There is some sort of manual on the bottom of the charger, but it is for the orginal charger, not this modified one.



Power input is a 12V barrel connector.



Charge current is select with this switch, actual current will depend on cell size (From manual):
AA: S:540mA, M:800mA, L:1030mA
AAA: S:210mA, M:310mA, L:400mA
Changing current during charge will trigger a pause on the charger.



The user interface is the display, 3 buttons, the current select slider and a buzzer. The socket on the top is for serial data, on the + model it can be used to update the software in the charger, on the s model it can be connected to a computer for data logging.
Button functions:
CAP: Recall discharge values
DIS >2sec: Start a discharge, charge function.
SEL+DIS >2sec: Start a charge, discharge, charge cycle (CDC).
DIS >4sec: Cycle the batteries until maximum capacity is reached.
CAP+SEL >3sec: Enter setup mode, mostly sound configuration, but it also include voltage calibration.

The buzzer in the charger is used to signal a lot of stuff and has many different sounds patterns



During power on the charger will do the usual display test and then show the software version.



The display will usual change between voltage, time and capacity. To make the sequence easy to read a U is displayed before the voltage, i.e. the sequence contains four steps: U, voltage, time, capacity.
Pressing the CAP button will immediately move to capacity display, in the discharge modes it will be discharged capacity.



But there is also a couple of other messages that can be displayed, like the “HOT” message above.



The charger has basically two separate battery holders, one for AA and below that one for AAA.







Measurements

• Below 0.22 volt the charger with not detect a battery.
  
• Between 0.22 and 0.9 volt the charger report Err, but will try to charge.
  
• Between 0.9 and 1.65 volt the charger will use regular charging.
  
• Above 1.65 volt the charger will report BAD
  
• The charger will not restart if battery voltage drops.
  
• Charge will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.
  
• Voltmeter works from 0.9 volt to 1.64 volt and is within 0.01 volt.
  
• The charger has a limit on how fast the percent display can increase and the voltmeter will never decrease.
  
• When charging is finished the charger will discharge the battery with about 6mA, but this easily compensated by the trickle charge.
  
• When charger is without power it discharge the battery with about 40mA.
  
• Power consumption when idle is 45mA from 12V or 0.55 watt.
  

Charger GyrFalcon All-88 (Enova)





Enova makes many different chargers, some time ago I tested many of them, include a 8 slot charger. This charger here is a completely new design that is a much more versatile charger. It can charge most types of round cells on the market. The reviewed version is a pre-release version.
The charger uses a very flat design, it is only 32mm high.




I got the charger before the box was finished, instead I got these renderings on how the box is going to look.



Because I got the charger and a power supply a bit before the release date, there was no manual included.



The DC input is the usual barrel connector and it is rated for both 12V and 24V input, making it possible to use the charger in a car.



The display has many elements on it, because the charger can handle many types of cells.



Here the charger is working with 3 different cell, each with its own setting.
The C.A line shows selected current and is also used to select current when the “>>” marking is at this line.
The V.V line shows selected charge voltage and is also used to the select voltage when the “>>” marker is flashing at this line.
The battery icon is animated when the charger is charging.
The display will automatic dim after some time, any button press will bring it back to full brightness.



The full user interface with 8 readouts and 10 buttons, one for each slot and two special buttons. All buttons has a leds in them.
The slot buttons will show a green (blue in release model) led while charging and a red led when done.

Start a slot (Method 1):
Press button for slot to select it.
Press button for slot again to select voltage.
Press CV to select current setting.
Press button for slot to select current.
Press CV to select voltage setting again.
Hold button for slot down to start charging.

Start a slot (Method 2):
Press button for slot to select it.
Press button for slot again to select voltage.
Hold button for slot down to start charging.
Press CV to select current setting.
Press button for slot to select current.

The above methods are rather long if you want to charge many cells, the charger has some shortcuts to handle that:
Hold button for charging slot down and tap button for other channel will copy the settings and start charging on the other channel.
Hold Fn down and press CV will select 1A and 4.2V charge voltage for all idle slots, pressing multiple times on CV will change voltage.


These short-cuts means that charging any number of (4.2V) 18650, 26650, 32650 can be started by holding Fn down and tapping once on CV.
Charging any number of AA can be starting by holding Fn down and tapping CV twice.

Due to the long display the brightness is not uniform in the display.



The sliders work very smooth and can handle from 30.0mm to 71.2mm, up to ø26mm cells can be placed in each slot and it is possible to use ø32mm cells in each other slot if they have a large top (i.e. LiIon will usual work, but not NiMH D cells).
Due to the wide slots, care has to be taken with thinner batteries to get a connection.







The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries including flat top cells.
With 10180 cell the 100mA charge current is on the high side, but because most 10180 are high current cell it will usual be acceptable.
C cells has a tendency to slide of the plus connection.



Measurements on charger

• Power consumption when idle is 1.5 watt
  
• Will discharge a LiIon with 0.1mA when not charging.
  
• Will discharge a NiMH with 0.03mA when not charging.
  
• Will not charge at 0 volt.
  
• LiIon charging start at 0.6 volt with a few mA.
  
• NiMH charging start at 0.6 volt with selected current.
  
• From about 1.5 volt to 3.0 volt it will charge with 50mA (All LiIon chemistries)
  
• Above 3.09 volt the select current will be used
  
• Meter starts working at 0.7 volt, but is first precise at around 1 volt.
  
• Meter is within 0.03 volt.
  
• Meter stops updating when battery is full.
  
• Meter will not reduce reading.
  
• Charger will restart silent if LiIon battery voltage drops below 4.05 volt.
  
• Charger cannot be restarted with a nearly full battery.
  
• Power cycling and insertion of a battery requires button press to start charging.
  

• Time limits on NiMH charging (in the 5-10 hour range).
  
• The charger will use red and blue leds (not green).
  
• 4 spacers included for easier connection to smaller cells.
  

Charger Xiamen Nanfu HG-1412W





This charger is a fairly cheap multi chemistry charger that supports a wide variety of battery sizes.



The charger is delivered in a retail box with both Chinese and English text on it.



The charger has a fixed mains cord and is universal voltage (100-240AC).



The charger has one led for each slot and a common led that shows when power is connected.



Selection of chemistry is done with a slide switch it is marked:
1.2V for NiMH
1.5V for NiZn
3.6V for LiFePO4
4.2V for Normal LiIon
The text beside the slider is rather difficult to read.



The charger uses the usual slider constrution and support from 28mm to 69mm, this means it will not support long protected 18650 cells.









The charge current is a bit high for small cells. The charger can only handle up to 69mm long cells, with both flat and button tops cells.




Measurements

• Power consumption when idle is 0.1 watt
  
• When starting a charge the current can be up to 1.7A for some seconds.
  
• The charger never terminates the charge, current just drops when voltage raises.
  
• The charger will always restart when voltage drops below termination voltage, because it never really turned off.
  

Charger Ikea Vinninge 403.036.32





A very compact usb powered charger from Ikea, it can charge two AA/AAA cells. According to the manual it uses -dv and a safety timer, it sounds good.



The charger is packed in cardboard box with an opening.



There box contains the charger and a manual in 27 languages.




The charger is usb powered and has a fixed usb cable that can be packed into the charger.
With a rated current consumption of 0.5A it will work with just about any usb port.



There is no buttons on the charger, only a single indicator hidden below the plastic. It will light up when charging and turn off when both batteries are charged.



The charger uses a two-step connection for AA and AAA batteries and will automatically change charge current depending on battery size.






Measurements

• Discharge battery with less than 0.15mA when power is disconnected.
  
• Charge battery with about 24mA in trickle current, when charging is done.
  
• Charge will restart charging after power loss or battery insertion.
  
• The led is common for all batteries and will first turn off when all are charged.
  
• It takes about 80 minutes to detect a full battery.
  

This is the first “review” I make of a charger.
I have almost no knowledge about electronic, however, I’ve been using flashlights, batteries and chargers for 8 years as a consumer. So in this thread I’ll give you my honest opinion on this product as a user.

I got the SKYRC MC3000 Courtesy of BangGood for the review. I wanted to have a multichemistry charger/analyser with advanced features, able to connect to smartphones and PC.

The charger comes in a very big box, well protected during shipping. Inside the box there are the charger, the external power supply and the instruction manual.
The MC3000 is relatively big, here you can see it with the Imax B6 and the Nitecore D2.



The external power supply decreases the size of the charger and the heath that the charger needs to dissipate during work.

On the side there is the blue led status for Bluetooth connectivity, USB 2.1A ouput and micro usb for connecting to the computer.

Here’s some specs:

The charger has 4 slots, one switch for each slot, plus 4 additional switch. The display has backlight and it’s easy to read, with a wide angle of view.
Here for example is the “mode” menu
The positive pole is raised, so no problem with flat cells. At the negative there are 2 nobs for each slots. No problem for lenght, all my protected 18650 fit.

For each switch slot there is a led wich indicate if the slot is working (solid red), has encountered an error, or requires user intervention (flashing green and red) or has finished its work (green).
The charger has 3 modes: dummy, simple and advanced.
On dummy mode, the charger automatically recognises the tipe of battery (only li ion and nimh), and the user has only to select the charging current. This mode is the simplest and fastest one to use, and provides only charging function. The charging current can be set from 0.1 Amps with 0.1 Amps increments.

The 2 other modes, simple and advanced, became gradually more complex, the user can: Charge, Refresh, Breakin, discharge and storage.
In simple mode you have some control on the parameters of each process.
In advanced mode you can set everything, for example: target current of a discharge process, the resting time between different phases of a cycle (for example charge, wait 5 minutes and then star discharging), Cycle (For example, D>C, C>D, C>D>C…), set the termination (CC-CV…), restart voltage (if after the battery is charged the voltage drops under set value, re-start the charging), trickle charge, delta peak….
Also, you can set a time cutoff, and a capacity cutoff. This are IMHO additional features that are nice to have.

All these settings are memorized inside a PROGRAM, the charger can store up to 30 PROGRAMS and recall them.
This means that you can have one program for charging big li-ion (ie charging at 1A, 4,2v Cutoff), one for smaller li-ion (ie charging at 0,5A ….), one for charging big nimh, one for smaller nimh and so on.
Similar, you can also set programs to store li-ion (li ion have a terrible aging that effects both capacity and internal resistance, if you have many li-ion that you don’t use it is recommended to discharge them around at 3.7 volts) with a determinate voltage cutoff.

So, while in dummy mode in a few second you can start charging the battery, in the advanced modes it is required to save a program first, and then you can recall it and start the MC3000.
You can pass through all the 30 programs, and for each one you see all the settings. The first things you see are the battery type and the charging current, and if you scroll down you can see all the others parameter (such as target voltage, additional cutoff…).

The slots features memory so when you insert a new battery they will use the last program used, however the program doesn’t auto start, it needs user confirmation.

Some programs view:

Li ion charging at 1A

This progam Discharges Li-ion at 1A

And this charges Li-ion at 1A and then discharge them at 1A a small pause in between.

If you have eneloop, the charger has already the manufacturer advised values, so all you need is set the battery you are inserting. But you can change them as you wish.

When you have all set and started, this is the main view, where you see for each slot what is the operation (charging with the arrow pointing up, discharging with the arrow pointing down, cycle with an alpha…), the voltage, the current and the overall mAh value (both for charging and discharging)

You can also check the details for each slot, where you’ll se the main parameters value of the program that is running, time, temperature, W and so.

Other than the complete control of all the settings, the MC3000 offers connectivity to smartphone and pc.
I tested the MC3000 app that I got on the Google Play store for my LG with 5.1 android, and the MC3000 monito software that I got on their website on Windows 7 and 8.1, both 64 bits.
For the pc connection it is required a micro usb cable, for the smartphone it uses the Bluetooth. The connection between the software/app and the charger is fast.
With the pc/smartphone you can monitor what is happening, accessing the same information that are on the charger’s screen, and you can set programs from your device.

The charging/discharging curve looks much better on the computer screen, since on the display there are no indications on the axis.

I made a crop of the single slot.

You can also save a very detailed excel logfile, with sampling time 1”.

Unfortunately, I was not able to do anything but monitor the status of each slot, because the app and the software crash when I try to start a process or I try to save a new mode.

Also, on the PC software I have trouble showing the whole software window, on both my computers.

With the PC software you can also update the firmware of the MC3000. My MC3000 came with FW version 1.3 installed, and from what I read on forums, the 1.4 version never left its beta status, and the 1.5 version will be released soon.
I hope that with this new FW version also new software and app will be released, leading to improved control of the charger, more stability and other bugs (for example I can’t see the whole window of the software on both my computers).

I’ve been using my MC3000 for more than a month now, and after the first few days, where I was constantly looking at the manual, now I can use it without having to check it.
After the first days, I switched to simple mode, but I felt the need to control some additional parameters, so I got in the advanced mode and never went back.
I memorized different programs that suit my needs (3 for charging nimh at 0.3, 0.5 and 1Amps, 4 for charing li ions at 0.3, 0.5, 1 and 1.5Amps, 3 for discharging li ions at 0.5, 1 and 2Amps, 1 for storing li-ions, 3 for discharging nimh at 0.4, 1, and 2 Amps).
These are 14 programs, and I still have 16 more programs to set, so I don’t feel the lack of additional memory space.
The changes I made to the default settings are mainly:

- Increase the max charging time for li-ion at 4 hours.
- Increase the max capacity for li-ion, that was set to 3000mAh, to 3800mAh.
- In order to prolong the life of my li ion batteries, I set the charging cutoff at 4.15 volts.
- The discarghing process for li ion has a target voltage of 2.8 volt (so I can compare my results to many reviews)

When charging 4 18650 at 1Amps each, the charger becomes a bit warm, but the fan Is almost silent. However, when discharging at 1A even a single 18650, the charger gest warmer and the fan start rotating and making noise.
With the MC3000 you can also set the fan settings: off until a certain temperature (and then on at full speed), or auto (speed regulated based on the internal temperature). Do not confuse the inner temperature of the charger with the temperature of the battery, because each slot has a separate temperature sensor (that is used for safety and nimh termination).
I hear people needing to replace their charger fan because they had noise issue. On my sample, the fan is just as noisy as all the small fans rotating at high speed, and produces a noise on the high frequency range, making it just annoying.
So, I keep it in another room when I need tranquillity and I’m discharging batteries.

The MC3000 can be reset to factory calibration or you can calibrate the voltage of each slot manually, inserting a battery of known voltage and inserting the voltage in the charger with a specific procedure. I found my sample accurate enough to not require calibration. However it is nice to have the chance to do it.
If you think you messed up some parameters of process, the MC3000 also has a reset function that sets all settings back to factory default.

Here’s some test results of almost all the LG MJ1 I got.

My thoughts
The MC3000 has successefully replace my Nitecore D2 on my desk and I have charged more than 100 cells and discharged about 40 with it.
This MC3000 is pretty much a hobby charger, but with an easier interface and 4 conventional battery slots (no wires and cables around).
If you plan to use this MC3000 just as a simple charger of cells, I believe there are many smaller and cheaper charger that can get the job done… if you don’t need more than 1A for channel.
It offers the greatest chemistry compatibility of all chargers (don’t know any “smart” charger that featuers lifepo4, li-ion, nimh, ram and nizn) and allows the user to set all the parameters for the operative cycle, and works with precision.
So, it requires a bit of knowledge on cells (I recommend you to read the manual, the CPF FAQ and spend some time on Battery University) for fully exploiting its potential, but gives me more information and satisfaction.:candle:

There are many hobby chargers that could get the job done in an equal way, but usually hobby chargers operate only one battery at the time, for more batteries simultaneously some cabling work is required, and can charge only one type of chemistry at a time.
The MC3000 is more user friendly and quicker to operate, working most of the cilindrical cells I know (it’s too big for smaller cells like 10180). Thinner cell like AAA needs to be inserted with some care in order to work.

I’d like a bigger and more quiet fan. Bigger fans can move more air at lower speed compared to smaller fans, producing lesser noise.
To my knowledge this is the only charger of this segment that has PC and smartphone connectivity and firmware updates (other chargers to go from 2.0 to 2.1 version means you have to buy a new charger), but SKYRC has some work to do in order to make the connectivity function 100% reliable and working, at least for my setup.

I will update the review if there will be any changes with the updates.

Thanks for AntoLed for lending me the camera.
Thanks for reading.

Charger Xtar SV2 Rocket





This Xtar charger can charge NiMH and LiIon batteries, it can handle fairly large cells and can also use a both low and fairly high charge current.



I got the charger in a retail cardboard box from. The box has a lot of specifications printed on the back.



The box contained the charger, a mains power supply, a car adapter a instruction sheet and a warranty card.



The charger has a DC input socket (5.5/2.1mm) where either the power supply or the car adapter can be connected.



The user interface is a display, two leds and one button.
A short press on the button will change charge current between 0.5A, 1A and 2A, a double tap (Why?) will change to 0.25A, a long press will turn the display off. With display off a short press or removing/inserting batteries will turn it on again.
The CH1/CH2 leds are red while charging and green at all other times.



The display shows selected current and how much the batteries are charged. After some time the brightness will be reduced, but it is still easy to read the display and a press on the button will return it to full brightness.



The charger uses the typical slider construction with a metal rail and works smoothly from about 30mm to 71mm, i.e. the charger can handle long protected 18650/26650/32650 cells.
Notice the long metal bar at the plus connection, this makes it possible to handle 32650 and D cells, it also means that flat-tops with very retracted plus pole may need a magnet to connect (The flat-top cells I tested worked directly).








The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries, including flat top cells.
Many high current 18650 can be charged at 2A with only a minor impact on lifetime.



Measurements

• When not powered a LiIon will discharge with about 2.3mA.
  
• When not powered a NiMH will discharge with about 0.8mA.
  
• When LiIon battery is full the charger will charge with 0.6mA.
  
• The charger will restart if battery voltage drops below 3.94 volt.
  
• Charge will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.
  
• Charger will charge from zero volt with about 100mA
  
• Below 2 volt the charger assumes NiMH
  
• Between 2 and 3 volt the charger uses 10% charge current
  
• Above 3 volt regular LiIon charging is used.
  
• Power consumption when idle is 0.6 Watt (0.9W with bright background light).
  

Charger Fenix ARE-X1





Fenix makes flashlights, but also has chargers and batteries. This is a very simple charger and power bank for 26650/18650 cells.



The charger comes in a blister pack. The specifications on the back of the pack are not very good, everything about the power bank is close to misleading (The purpose of a power back is not to discharge cells and it do not deliver 4.2 volt).



The pack contained the charger, a usb cable and a instruction sheet.



The micro usb power input connector and the usb power output connector.



The led is the only user interface on the charger.
The led is red while charging and green when finished.
While usb output is loaded it will flash red.



The plus connection is slightly raised, this makes it possible to use the charger with flat top batteries. The minus connection is a spring, this limits the battery length to between 65mm and 71mm, this means just about all 18650 and 26650 batteries. Some other sizes can be charged with a spacer.





The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries including flat top cells.



Measurements on charger

• Batteries will be discharged with 0.06mA when power is off.
  
• Batteries will be charged with 0.2mA when power is on.
  
• Below 0.5 volt the charger will charge with about 4mA.
  
• Below 2.9 volt the charger will charge with 300mA.
  
• Above 2.9 volt charging will be with full current.
  
• Charge current is never fully turned off and will keep the battery voltage high.
  

• Output is 5 volt, not 4.2 volt as the specifications says.
  
• Usb output is coded as usb charger (DCP)
  
• Usb output turns off after 5 second with a load below 56mA
  

Charger GP ReCyko+ / PowerBank H500 (GPPB50GS)





This is one of the better chargers from GP, it started out called PowerBank (But it is not a power bank) and then the package changed name to ReCyko+ (Look like GP has decided that their product need to be sold as green). The charger is very compact and can charge up to 4 AA/AAA batteries.



I got the charger in a blister pack. In addition to the charger there were some AA cells.



The makes the total contents: The charger, mains cable, car adapter, 4 AA cells and a instruction sheet in many languages.



The charger has connectors for both mains power (100-240AC 50/60Hz) and 12 volt power.



The charger has a couple of leds to show the status. The battery symbols will flash while charging and be steady when full.
The lightning bolt will flash when charging, the checkmark will be lit when all batteries are finished and the ! will lit on errors. The single green led outside the display is used to show that the charger has power.
It is not possible to read the display in sunshine.




The charger has the typically two level slots used for AA and AAA batteries.



In addition it has a feature I would have liked on all compact chargers: A battery ejector.
Press the button on the side of the charger and all batteries pops up (Very nice).







Measurements charger

• Charger will discharge cells with 0.01mA when power is off.
  
• Charger will start charging when cell voltage is above 0.5 volt.
  
• Charger will show charging indication from 0 volt.
  
• Charge will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.
  

This is my “review” of the Charger ENOVA Gyrfalcon All-88.
Melody, from Gyrfalcon ENOVA kindly sent me one of their All-88 chargers for the review.
The usual disclaimer applies: I’m no expert on chargers or electronics, but I’ll try to give you guys my opinion as a user.

The charger comes in a cardboard and plastic box, with the power supply, the charger and the english user manual

The all-88 is a nimh and li-ion charger (3.6V LiFePO4, 4.2V Li-ion, 4.3V Li-ion, 4.35V Li-ion).
Its most distinctive feature is the 8 independent slots, each one with a separate display. For each slot there is a switch that operates the slot, plus 2 others in the middle (FN and C-V). Each switch has a red-blue LED inside. Blue when it is charging, flashing blue when requires intervention and red solid when it is charged.
The 8 slots are very broad and can host 26650 and C cells.

Size comparison between Nitecore D2 and Xtar VP6.

The springs are strong and there is no need of lubing the rods. The length for the cells is enough for all the 18650 cells that I own, here you can see some of the protected one. Here is a panasonic NCR18650B with PCB and a Xtar 2600mAh… both considered among the longest 18650 cells. The max space is around 72 mm, so you can see there is still a bit of extra space.

When the negative contact are resting, the distance between them and the positive contact point is 30 mm.


Rails and the positive poles have holes with threads that allows to mount the 4 spacers (that comes with the charger), allowing the charging of smaller cells.

You can mount the spacer sas you wish

The positive contact point has a small raised bump, so flat top cells (like unprotected Panasonic, LG, Samsung… fit). If the battery is smaller than the contact point, there is still contact if the battery is button top (like these AAA).

The display with the digits and simbols is orange-amber, and easy to read. It has a backlight. In the picture it shows terribly (because I’m a terrible photographer and it is glossy), but it’s very clear and easy to read even during the day and at a wide angle of view.

The backlight turns automatically off with a timer after a few minutes, while the coloured led under the switch will stay on.
The display is split into 8 equal portions. Each says:
- Voltage of the charging cells (this is not the actual voltage reading, it says what cells are you recharging: nimh=1.5V, li ion 3.7 volt=4.2, li ion 3.8 volt=4.3)
- Charging Amps
- Battery level
- Actual reading of cell’s voltage
- Charging time

The slot are indipendent, for each of them you can set the 2 charging parameters: Voltage (again, it says the chemistry of the cell) and Amps (0.1A, 0.25A, 0.5A, 1.0A). It is possible to charge al the slot with 1A current at the same time.
The settings for each slot are not memorized. When you turn the charger on the default setting for all the slot is 1.5 V (nimh), 1A.
Now, if you want to charge more cells with the same settings, there are some shortcuts that can copy-paste the settings, or that can quick-set a default combination.

UI [i]Single slot operation [/i]
Insert the cell and click the slot switch. In this moment we have set the voltage menu (you’ll see the >> pointing at volt). Each press of the slot switch will move 1 position further the indicator (1.5 -> 3.6 -> 4.2…). To set the A, click the C-V switch, and the arrow (>>) will point at the amps of the selected slot. Click again the slot switch to move the Amps settings.
To start the charge, click again the C-V switch (if you were in the A setting) and keep the slot menu pressed.
Each slot can be individually set.

Quindi, se dovete impostare 7 slot con gli stessi parametri di carica e 1 con parametri diversi, conviene inserire e far partire prima lo slot con la batteria “unica”, e poi con la funzione sopra descritte di modo che si programmino tutti gli altri slot, che non sono attivi.

Copy and Paste
It is possible to copy and paste the settings of a single slot to n adjacent slots, for example from 1 to 2, or from 1 to 8, or from 4 to 1…). To to so, set the slot to copy, then keep pressed the switch of the slot and press the switch of the slot you want to paste the settings. The charge will start automatically. If you have an adjacent slot already working, it won’t be affected.

8 slot shortcut
Keep pressed FN switch and click C-V switch. Now all the slots have been set to 4.2 volt, 1Amps.
Keep pressed FN switch and click C-V switch twice. Now all the slots have been set to 4.2 volt, 1 Amps.
Each press of the FN switch followed by C-V press, will advance the voltage settings for all the slots.
The charge will start automatically. If you have a slot already working, it won’t be affected.

If you think 8 slots are too many… you only need a couple of big lights (TM16GT and ETSX25L3) and a spare smaller light. And there is no free slot. To me this is a realistic flashlight kit that I bring with me during the night walks in the wood: a floody light, a throwy light and an headlamp.

My thoughts
Once you get used to the unique interface, you have a charger that can work 8 slots at the same time, 1 amp each. The charging current can be set in a wide range of settings, 4, that works from very small cells (where 0.5C is a bit high) to the bigger ones. I wasn’t able to put the 10180 cells in other chargers but the one especially made for them, or I had to work with cables and magnets because the cells were too small, or the charging currents too high. Here with the spacers supplied, 2 18180 will fit, and the 0.1 A charge is acceptable.
I’d like to see a small compartment to keep the spacers when not in use. Spacers are a bit tricky to screw in place: the holes are very small and the space for twisting them is limited.
Being able to charge different types of li-ion other than the widely owned “4.2” is a nice thing to have. Owning only nimh and 3.7 volts cells, I’d like too see a shortcut to hyde the other type of cells during the setting of voltage for single slot operation.
Given the broad diameter of the slots, that can handle C and 26650, the smaller cells needs to be inserted carefully in order to touch the positive pole. I’d like to see a bigger positive pole button.
In this aspect the all 88 is very good: can charge many cells quickly at the same time, AND can do the same for small cells at correct currents.
In the first prototypes the led colour were red (charging, need user intervention) and red (charging finished). I find this choice closer to my habits and the one of other chargers.
I’m happy to own this charger because it can handle many cells, is ideal for charging a lot of cells before a sudden night walk in the woods, or for charging multiple set of cells that I use in my review. With the 1A setting I can do things a lot quicker when I’m in a hurry (pretty much all the time)

According to ENOVA, the 4 slot version will be released during this summer. For someone who doesn’t need all this slot, it should be a more suitable version, since the volume of the charger should be half of the all-88.

Thanks to: AntoLed for lending me the camera.
Feedback is always welcome.

Charger Xiaomi ZI5 PB400





This is a very small 4 channel NiMH usb charger with power bank functionality.



The charger comes in a white cardboard box whith some low contrast Chinese writing on it (Probably specifications).



In the box is the charger with a lid and a usb cable (micro to USB-A).



The charger has two connectors:
Micro usb for power input, it requires 5 volt 1A.
The large usb connector is for power bank output.
Selection between charging battery and working as a power bank is done with a switch.



There is some specifications on the charger.



Each slot has a small white led behind a small hole.
These leds are flashing slowly when charging and steady lit when the battery is full.
When working as a power bank the leds lights up in turn at a slow speed.





The charger uses the typical two level slots for AA/AAA cells.






Measurements

• When not connected to power it will discharges with less then 1uA
  
• Power cycling or reinsertion of the battery will restart charging.
  
• Power consumption when idle is 20mA or 0.1 watt from usb.
  
• Power consumption when usb output is select with less than 4 batteries in the device is 2mA or 0.01 watt from usb.
  
• Charging is only possible with switch in charge position.
  

• USB output is coded as usb charger (DCP)
  
• When usb output is active it will drain about 5mA from the batteries.
  
• All 4 batteries must be mounted for usb output to work.
  
• Batteries are in series when powering usb output.
  
• USB output will only be on when switch is in usb output position.
  

Opus BT-C100 is a single port charger for Li-Ion, NiMh, and LiFePo4 batteries in any size, from 10440 (AAA size) to 32650. It also can be used as powerbank and has many other additional features.

I receive this Opus BT-C100 charger (not an affiliate link) from Gearbest for review purpose.

It’s my third charger, former chargers were XTAR MP1S and XTAR VC2 (still use it till now).

Inside the box, there are the charger, 12 volt power supply, and a piece of operating manual sheet.

This charger can be used as power bank, but micro USB cable is not included in the package.

The power supply output is 12 volts and available in US or EU wall plug version. Choose wisely according to your home wall outlet.

The power supply itself is an optional power source because Opus BT-C100 can get power source from any USB ports like powerbank, phone charger, laptops, LED TV, etc.

Here’s how the charger look like, from several different angles.

The charger uses classical slider construction to handle most battery sizes, from 33 mm up to 73.5 mm so we can use it to charge 16340 up to 18650 battery length.

I have two 16340 batteries (non branded) that don’t fit with the charger because it’s too short, but other batteries work just fine.

Opus BT-C100 has two buttons for operating the charger.

I must underline that this is not an easy to use charger, but it’s not too difficult as well. Might need several couple of minutes to fully understand how to operate the charger properly.

Opus BT-C100 has has several operating modes:

• CHARGE: Charge batteries with 200 to 2000 mA (configurable).
• DISCHARGE: Discharge battery with 100 to 1000 mA (configurable).
• DISCHARGE REFRESH: Discharge and charge the battery for 3 times.
• CHARGE TEST: Charge, discharge and charge the battery. It will show us the real battery capacity.
• IMPEDANCE TEST: Measure the internal resistance of the battery.

Selected mode is shown on top left of its LED display while the detected battery type shown on top right.

When charging, we can select desired current from 200 to 2000 mA. With smaller current, it will take longer time to complete but will likely preserve our battery lifespan.

A cool feature I like from Opus BT-C100 is the ability to check battery voltage without any power supply attached. Just insert any battery and it will read battery voltage and display the result on the screen.

Unfortunately, it displays battery voltage information too fast. Less than one second.

As mentioned earlier, we can use this charger as power bank to charge any USB powered devices.

The power bank function will not run automatic as we insert the battery. To enable this function, press the CURRENT button until the USB status is ON.

After the USB is ON, plug USB cable into the USB port and we can start charging.

For the price, it is an awesome charger with many features almost near to a hobby charger. To fully understand how to use all of it features, read its operating manual again and again.

Opus BT-C100 Experience

Pros:

• Full featured charger at an affordable price (read: cheap).
• One charger for any battery size and type/chemistry.
• Can be used as power bank.
• LED display gives useful information.

Cons:

• Not the easiest charger to operate.
• No micro USB cable included.
• The feel of the body material is not very solid.

Bottomline:

Charger Xtar ANT – MC1Plus





Xtar has made a couple of versions of the MC1 (OriginalPlus) and now the ANT version. This version has two current settings that is selected based on battery size and it has a display showing charge progress. All versions of this charge have been usb powered and very small.





The cardboard box has a lot of specifications on it.



The box contains the charger, a usb cable, a pouch, a manual and a warranty card.



Charger and usb cable in the pouch.



The charger is powered from a micro usb connector.



The charger has 4 leds to show the charge status and leds for 0.5A and 1A current selection (Current is selected automatic depending on battery length).



The slots uses the usual construction. It can handle batteries from 31mm to 71.2mm long, that means just about any protected and unprotected LiIon cell.
Depending on the position of the slider the charge current will be 0.5A or 1A, the changeover is just above 54mm.





The minimum charge current is 0.5A and that is a bit high for 10440 cells.
The charger can handle 71mm long batteries, inclusive flat top cells.



Measurements

• Just above 54mm battery length it will switch between 0.5A and 1A charging.
  
• Below 2.9 volt the charger will charge with 90mA or 180mA depending on battery length.
  
• Above 2.9 volt regular charge current it applied.
  
• When not powered the charger will discharge with about 0.08mA
  
• Charger usb current consumption when battery is full is 23mA
  
• Charger usb current consumption without battery is 7ma
  
• Charge will restart if battery drops below 4.1 volt.
  
• Charge will restart charging after power loss or battery insertion.
  

Update 14th July:
Use coupon F1HU when buying from Gearbest to get 30% OFF.

———————-

Nitecore F1 is an outdoor battery charger that charges almost all types of li-ion batteries that are not shorter than 340 mm. It can also be used as powerbank using any li-ion battery as power source.

I received this Nitecore F1 from Gearbest for reviewing purpose and have been using it for almost two weeks and carried it on a week holiday to see how it performs.

Packaging

The rubbers band are used to hold the battery safe for outdoor activities and I normally use one rubber only.

Yet, it’s not prohibited to use booth at once.

Technical Specifications

Input: DC 5V; more than or equal to 500mA
Output: 4.2V + / – 1 pct (slot); 5V + / – 5pct (USB)l; max 1000mA
Battery type: Li-ion and IMR
Battery size: 26650, 18650, 17670, 18490, 17500, 17335, 16340 (RCR123), 14500, 10440

Nitecore said that the body is made from fireproof material. From what I see, the body material is almost the same as Nitecore Tube’s body material.

It has three power (LED) indicators to indicate charging/discharging status as well as for battery voltage check feature.

Like any good charger/powerbank, Nitecore F1 has over charging protection and over discharging protection for battery safety.

First Impression

During my holiday, I stored Nitecore F1 with 18650 battery inserted inside my Maxpedition Micro Organizer along with spare 16340 batteries and micro USB cable.

The metal connectors are gold plated to ensure good electric conductivity during charging and when used as power bank. The metal connectors are shaped for optimal contact with the batteries.

It uses slider with spring to accomodate various length of li-ion batteries.

The polarity signs are embossed at the base although I can barely see them. But it’s not a problem because Nitecore F1 has reverse polarity protection.

The charger has two ports. The first one is for input using standard micro USB cable. There’s no cable included in the packaging but I can use any micro USB cables for smartphones.

Another port is for output when used as powerbank, using standard USB port.

Just plug any USB cable into it and it will deliver power to your electronic devices.

Nitecore F1 as Charger

Using its voltage checker feature, the charging is finished when the voltage reaches 4.2 volts.

Nitecore F1 as Powerbank

The amount of smartphones that can be charged with Nitecore F1 may vary, it depends on the capacity of the battery and the capacity of your smartphone battery as well.

When the battery voltage reaches 3.3 volts, the three LED indicator will blink to alarm the user, then shut down at 3.2 volts. It will stop working as powerbank when the voltage is dropped into 2.8 volts to protect the battery.

One thing to note is that the powerbank feature can only be used with 18650 or 26650 battery. When small capacity battery is inserted —such as 16340, 14500, 10440— it will automatically shutted down.

Voltage & Capacity Indicator

When a battery is inserted, first digit LED will blink up to 4 times then the second digit LED will blink to show the number after the decimal point.

After displaying the voltage information, the combination of three LEDs will tell us the battery capacity:

• 3 LEDs on: capacity over 81%
• 2 LEDs on: capacity between 41-80%
• 1 LEDs on: capacity between 1-40%

Summary

Pros:

• Small size, easy to carry and store.
• Made from durable and fire proof material.
• Gold plated metal contacts.
• Can be used as powerbank.
• Battery capacity/voltage indicator feature is very helpful.
• Rubber band helps keep the battery safe.

Cons:

• No USB cable nor instruction manual is included.
• Battery polarity sign directions are barely visible.
• I wish it came with a little pouch.

If you have this charger, or just want to read more about its features, click here to download the user manual from Nitecore’s website.

2S 3A LiIon charger UT-6026C



Official specifications:

• Input Voltage: AC 100V – 240V 50/60 Hz
  
• Output: DC 8.4V / 3000mA
  
• Charging Mode: CC—CV Mode(Li-ion battery charger charger)
  
• Interface: 5.5mm x 2.1mm
  
• LED Display: Red—in charging; Green—fully Charge
  
• Cut-off Current: 10-15% of Charge current
  
• Protection: 1. Over voltage protection, 2. Over current protection, 3. Over-load protection, 4. Short circuit protection
  
• Operation Temp.: -20°C to 40°C
  
• Operation Humidity: 20% to 90% R.H
  
• Storage Temp.: -20°C to 75°C
  
• Storage Humidity: 1% to 90% R.H.
  
• Dimensions: 60mm(L) x 36mm(W) x 120mm(H)
  
• Color: Black
  

• Connector is 5.5mm/2.1mm
  
• Green led is on when power connected, but no battery.
  
• Led is off when battery is connected, but no power.
  
• Green led is on when power and battery is connected and battery is full.
  
• Red led is on when charging.
  
• When overloaded/shorted the led will flash red.
  
• It will start regular charging at 1 volt
  
• Unloaded voltage is 8.57 volt
  
• Unloaded power consumption is 0.5 watt
  
• The charger will drain the batteries with 9mA when not connected to power.
  

Charger NiteCore F1





This charger from Nitecore is a very light weight single cell charger with two charge currents and power bank function.



The blister pack lists some specifications, battery types and features.



The box contains the charger and two rubber bands.



The charger is powered from a micro usb connector. The word “IN” is molded in the plastic.
The usb output is at the other end and the word “OUT” is molded in the plastic.




The charger has 3 leds hidden under the plastic, they have a couple of different functions:
When a battery is put into the charger they will show voltage: 3 flash on the first and 7 flashes on the next means 3.7 volt.
During charging and power bank they show the usual charge bar, i.e. 1, 2 or 3 leds on depending on power level.
When charging the flashing speed will indicate charge current: slow=0.5A.
All leds flashing means error (A small battery used for power bank).



The slots uses the usual construction and the slider is very smooth. It can handle batteries from 29mm to 71.4mm long, that means just about any protected and unprotected LiIon cell.
Depending on the position of the slider the charge current will be 0.5A or 1A, the changeover is around 61mm.



The rubber bands can be used to secure a cell to the charger when it is used “on the move”.





The minimum charge current is 0.5A and that is a bit high for 10440 cells.
The charger can handle 71mm long batteries, inclusive flat top cells.



Measurements

• Around 61mm battery length it will switch between 0.5A and 1A charging.
  
• When charger has selected charge current it will stay with it.
  
• Below 1 volt the charger will sometimes charge with a low current.
  
• Between 1 volt and 3 volt the charger will charge with 60mA or 120mA depending on battery length.
  
• Above 3 volt regular charge current it applied.
  
• When not powered the charger will discharge with about 0.4mA
  
• Charger usb current consumption when battery is full is 40mA
  
• Charger will not restart if battery voltage drops.
  
• Charge will restart charging after power loss or battery insertion.
  

• When usb output is powered it uses 15mA from the battery
  
• When usb output is turned off it uses 0.4mA from the battery
  
• Without a battery the charger uses about 30mA from usb input
  
• Usb output is on while charging and powered directly from usb input.
  
• Charge can be used as ups, but output voltage will be a bit low.
  
• Usb output is coded as usb charger (DCP)